in case you haven’t yet had your fill of the fresh-hopped sartori
get your ass down to the whip for the penultimate vancouver cask
tapping at 4 today!
the new oxford one tapped out in an hour… just sayin’
oh, and its dockside’s 10th anniversary party tonight
(at dockside of course!)
inside vancouver rates the best vancouver brewpubs for the summer season
only two weeks late, its my review of the vcbw dead famous pub crawl!
lord love a busy beer drinker!
so, the theme of the pub crawl was dead famous
as in dress up as a famous dead person
(and the sponsor was the dead famous ad agency, who made us all lovely buttons of dead famous people)
the first stop on the crawl was cinema, a donnelly group pub on granville street
there we had our choice of a pint of driftwood’s white bark or their farmhand ale
woe be to me the non-wheat or belgian beer drinker in the crowd…
i went with the white bark
the food at this stop was cute little sliders with fries and chipotle aioli
for me they put roasted veggies on a bun, and it was delicious!!
(and hey, were the platters those ones from dragon’s den that are all eco and stuff??)
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| cute food is fun!! |
then we wandered our asses through the sunny streets of vancouver to the yaletown brew pub
then i bought myself a brick and beam ipa
which is also a wonderfully hoppy brew
and citrusy hops – delish!
they fed us a lovely assortment of pizzas, veggie and carnivorous
from the yaletown we hopped on the aquabus over to granville island
on this leg of the tour we got poured on
and hailed on
good times!
still, how great is this place that we live that we can boat between pubs?
at the backstage lounge we were apparently expected
but, um, there was nowhere for us to sit
and a big long line up at the bar
as we got there just as the intermission of the play let out
i am assured that the vcbw crew had it all set up, it was the backstage lounge that messed up on that one
however, they were pouring the vcbw collaboration cask
and they fed us lovely food
pizza, spring rolls, wings and some other meaty thing which i didn’t have so escapes my memory at this time
my notes tell me that the hot wings were both and the pizza was ducky
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| the vcbw cascadian dark ale |
the collaboration beer had a nose of hops, but the taste was not as forward as the bitterness that come through in the end
but… there was a fabulous, although unexpected, balkan band who showed up and entertained us all
it was almost like last year when we had a band accompany us for the first few stops!
from the backstage lounge we trotted over to the dockside
which, like a proper venue should, had reserved the entire bar for us
(we are now at about 4:30ish on a day that began at noon)
the dockside had a cask for us
of ipa apparently with cardamom
people were getting anise and all sorts of other flavours like tea and parsley
me, i just found it weird
and pretty much we all agreed that it was not an ipa
for food we had us a bbq
there were various meat options and prawn skewers
plus lots of great accompaniments
after dinner, willie discovered that if you combined one third of the cask ipa with two thirds of the collaboration cda, it made a quite drinkable concoction
we named it the wet willie
all in all the pub crawl did not live up to last year’s inaugural epic stature
but it sure was good times
and i’ll do it again next year!
to whet your appetite for all things vancouver craft beer week
here are a few photos from the dead famous pub crawl
now, they aren’t my photos
they’re from the vcbw facebook page
cuz i haven’t had time to get my pics off my camera yet
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| the most excellent dead famous buttons |
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| some of the motley crew arriving at the yaletown |
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| pizza and beers at the yaletown brewpub |
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| and the whole costumed gang of famous dead folks |
my head, she aches!
the folks at work suggest it may be related to all the beer i drank over the weekend
i think they might be onto something!
so far my vancouver craft beer week has been fabulous!
definitely worth some head aching mornings!
saturday’s dead famous pub crawl, while not rocking my world as much as last year’s four beers and a funeral did, was a very good time
folks showed up in costume (famous dead people in case you didn’t figure that out from the name of the crawl) and progressed through the crazy weather from cinema to yaletown brewpub to the backstage lounge to dockside, taking an aquabus between yaletown and granville island
as far as i know, no one got stranded on the wrong side of the water!
we were not accompanied by a band this year
but did get serenaded at the backstage lounge by a balkan wedding band
the dockside put on the hockey game for us and fed us a big bbq dinner
and there were buttons!
who doesn’t love a button?
i went dressed as james dean and was very excited to find myself a james dean button waiting for me
i felt quite supported in my dead person choice
favourite costume? the star trek crew who all dressed as the red guys who always get killed!
got to try the vcbw collaboration beer too
its a very palatable cascadian dark ale
not as hoppy as it could be, its definitely more on the malty side
hoppapalooza lived up to the hype
fabulous beers, fabulous beer geek company
lots of laughs, lots of beer sharing
and i got interviewed by the express for shaw television
good times, good times!
photos and fuller review to come
you know, next week after vcbw is all over!
tickets for signature events at vancouver craft beer week are on sale as of today!
i went to the launch party at the dockside last night and got me some nibblies, some swag and some tickets!
tickets for the rest of the events go on sale next friday, april 8th
i will be attending hoppapalooza II at the alibi
and this year’s dead famous pub crawl
(check out the hijinx at last year’s pub crawl and then get thee a ticket to this year’s – i think it was the best run, most fun, most interesting event in the city last year)
i am playing the women and beer and the two brewery creek nights by ear
most likely will be buying tix to them as well…
a whole week of beer events – i’m in heaven!
the launch party was quite well attended
check out the size of the line to buy tickets:
and this is the lovely beer toque that i got for swag:
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| i love meese! |
the nibblies were good, if in shorter supply than the ravenous hoardes would have liked
check out how cute the sliders were:
the dockside beer itself is not the best craft out there
but we went with it and got a pitcher of the pilsner
definitely drinkable but nothing to write home about
at least they have a fabulous view down there on granville island!
in honour of the upcoming canada up of beer, my notes from last year’s event (such as they are – arranged alphabetically, not in the order in which i imbibed):
barefoot wines: didn’t try any! but good on them for taking the plunge to attend a beer festival
beverage concepts: i think this is the booth that offered several imports. we had the menabrea from italy and anchor steam from san francisco. liked them both.
cariboo: didn’t hit this booth (i think we thought it was too generic, silly, silly us!).
central city brewing company: fabulous swag for sale! we tried their lager and their pale ale. jackie and julie both loved it. i wasn’t a fan. which is so odd for me to say now that i can’t get enough of their ipa or esb… guess i should have tried those instead of the lager and pale ale.
dead frog brewery: they didn’t show up. rumour has it internal strife kept them from appearing.
dockside brewing: had perhaps the most interesting beers on offer. the jamaica was crazy with hibiscus flavour – not a session beer, but we weren’t at a session now were we? also tried and enjoyed the pelican bay brown ale. not quite as wild about the marina light lager.
efes: best beer shirt!! jackie and i both snagged one – and they actually had my size left (even though the rep had a very hard time handing over men’s tees to a pair of women). tried both the light and the dark, and enjoyed them.
granville island brewing: skipped this booth as GIB is so readily available everywhere.
grolsch: they ran out awfully early and we didn’t manage to get any.
hell’s gate brewing company: talked to the rep for quite a while. got lots of great information, only shards of which i actually remember! tried both the lager and the pale ale. enjoyed them both. “bargain craft-brewed”, locally brewed in richmond, eco-friendly brewery.
hi-bridge global consulting: skipped this booth.
howe sound brewing: major thumbs up!! best looking booth at the festival and our favourite beer of the day was the bail-out bitter. also enjoyed the rail ale.
lighthouse brewing: we love the race rocks amber, so we spentsome time at this booth sampling the other three beers on offer: lager, beacon ipa and riptide pale ale. we enjoyed all three (and got playing cards as swag!).
okanagan spring brewery: skipped this booth as OK is so readily available everywhere.
pacific dry: skipped this booth (not sure why).
peacock & martin: yukon brewing: tried both the red and the gold and enjoyed them both.
peroni: jackie got a fabulous peroni shopping bag and was so darned happy for the rest of the afternoon! and the beer was delicious too.
pilsner urquell: along with the grolsch ran out awfully early and we didn’t get any.
PMA canada (featuring innis & gunn): julie and jackie enjoy the scotch, so they tried the innis & gunn and loved it. i went with the tyskie polish pilsner, and was very happy with my choice!
stile wines: skipped this booth, not sure why as i believe they actually had beer on offer…
red truck beer company: yay for having the beer truck on hand for us to take silly photos on! sampled both the ale and the lager, and liked them both.
rickard’s: sampled the red, which we already knew we liked, and tried the new white, which only julie was a fan of. must be my lack of enjoyment of the wheat…
russell brewing company: great beer tees and other swag being given away. julie scored a girlie tee, jackie and i scored men’s tees. alas mine is too big and i gave it to justin (that lucky boy). tried the cactus lime lager and the rocky mountain pilsner, and liked them both. also on offer were bc lions lager and cream ale, both of which we drank plenty of last year at bc lions games (and warming up for the games at the kingston).
tree brewing: tree sponsored our softball team one year, so we love them! they had almost their whole line on offer, which we greatly appreciated. we sampled the hophead, the pilsner and the pale ale and thoroughly enjoyed all three.
vancouver island brewing: they had spyhopper honey brown, piper and hermanns dark lager on offer. we tried the spyhopper and the hermanns and enjoyed them both.
whistler brewing company: i either didn’t hit this booth, or forgot to take notes…
yelp! – r&b brewing: loved playing the games and winning more beer tokens! great way to include more ridiculousness to my day!
thanks to the first aid tent for helping jackie with “uncle fester” – open wounds apparently scare small children and beer drinkers!
three of us attended in 2009
i estimate that there will be at least 8 of us this year!
okay, here’s the scoop on the beers we enjoyed on the four beers and a funeral brewpub crawl, part of vancouver craft beer week, held on saturday. as usual, i had lots of beers, so the notes start out legible and sensical and quickly degenerate. here they are, sometimes verbatim, edited for sense and to protect any pride i might still have left!
steamworks: ginger beer – amazing, if i had more than two thumbs, they’d be up too. an ale with lots of ginger flavour and carbonation. makes the tongue tingle and the tummy warm. great alternative to a lemon or lime lager for refreshment. we all tried this beer, and were all mighty glad that we did.
even though i swore i would only have one beer per stop in an effort to keep my wits about me, i broke that oath at the very first stop and had a second beer. apparently it only takes 1 beer to make me forget all my good intentions. bridget and i ordered ipas and amanda ordered the wheat beer. bridget and i were disappointed. there were no hops… we think perhaps we got a lager by mistake. we were however very happy to have amanda with us so she could try all the wheat beers and hefeweisens instead of us! she found the hefeweisen very citrusy and although it was cloudy as all hell, she did not find it yeasty. paired with pub grub appys: jalapeno poppers, garlic cheese toast, tempura prawns, chicken drumettes, chicken skewers, veggies and dip.
bathroom sitch: we had our own two private bathrooms, which were beautiful and clean. the room was pretty swank too!
insert musical march through downtown to yaletown – accompanying the cask casket and regaled by the carnival band. this much fun has got to be illegal. whoever came up with the idea is a genius, perhaps an evil genius, but a genius nonetheless!
dix: for everyone it was the ipa. bridget and i were most pleased – we do love us hoppy goodness! great pairing with veggie curry on rice. hops and spice go together so nice… ly. we weren’t fond of the ipa bread though. it tasted like hops were the only ingredient. we love hops, but give us some other ingredients to mellow them out a little! “is there even yeast in the ipa bread? its a dense little fucker. too much hops with nothing to dilute it.”
the ipa was sheer heaven. amanda was a trooper and drank hers down even though she is “not a fan of the ipas. love the lemon, zest, citrus taste”. she got a lemon to add to it and reports that it helped take away the intense bitter. then she tried salting it, verdict was that was not a good idea. don’t be insalting your beer. ba dump bump.
bridget and i savoured every last drop of our ipas and it took more will-power than i thought we possessed to resist the urge to get another as we knew there were many miles left to go. about the only will-power we exhibited all day (and night) so kudos to us for having had any at all!
bathroom sitch: only one of three stalls was working in the women’s – leading to quite long line-ups and the using of the men’s. not beautifully appointed, but they were clean!
yaletown: choice of all their taps. i had the brick & beam ipa, amanda had the hills wheat and bridget got her dark fix with the warehouse stout.
amanda found hers delightful, cloudy (natch) and already decided that she was going to have a second one. “hells yes” and definitely tasted the banana notes.
bridget’s stout was opaque and dark as treacle with that lovely brown head she loves so much. coffee notes but no chocolate. thumbs way up. and a second was necessary.
i found the ipa had a nice head, it was quite carbonated with a hoppy nose, lovely and clear in my glass and easy to drain far too quickly. i preferred the dix ipa, but only by a small margin. i had two as well.
it was a whole round of happy, followed by a second round of the same. we enjoyed the opportunity to have chosen our own beers, and then went and had the same thing again. but we liked having the right to choose! and i liked having tomato pesto olive thin crust pizza, the carnivores enjoyed the pepperoni basil.
bathroom sitch: well-appointed and clean.
on to the aquabus ride over to granville island – such fun. of course we took photos of our shoes and not the scenery, but had a great time regardless.
dockside: again a choice of beers to sample, and two beer tickets for this stop. yay! i was not in the know that there were cask beers available, so i used my first ticket on a keg pilsner and then had the cask ale for my second after i was illuminated by new-found friends.
vancouver craft beer week merchandise was available at this stop – so we bought tee shirts – yay! and sat outside with the caution tape. amanda says “sun is shiningish, the day has been fan’fuck’n’tastic so far! meeting interesting people, must say i love the citrus.”
johnson pilsner – i liked it, would have preferred an ipa since i was full on into my hops mode. usually find pilsner kind of bland, delicious but bland. this one is full of subtle goodness.
bridget had the grand crew dark something or other. tasted like red wine to me and molasses to amanda, but bridget really dug it. “its kicking her ass though. lots of flavour. cherry”
shockingly amanda had the hefeweisen. she liked it. it was almost clear, quite carbonated and lighter as far as the citrus and other fruit notes went that she’d been drinking earlier. kinda nondescript.
bathroom sitch: lots of them!
oh, and as an aside, i also had the following in my notes: woman to man ratio was very close to 1-1… thumbs up to his great idea for an afternoon of drinking that appeals to everyone!
so endeth my notes from the day. i do recall enjoying the cask pale ale, it just that we were in a rush to get our food, drink our beers down and get to our next event on time. next year, no second event. we needed more time to savour this one!
all that remains is to thank my fabulous tasting buddy dates for enabling me so galantly, and to thank all our new friends for being so friendly and willing to share their insider knowledge and opinions and laughter, and of course major thanks to the organizers for coming up with, and then executing flawlessly, such an amazing afternoon. i’d do it again in a heartbeat, and certainly won’t miss it next year for anything less than my own funeral.
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tried so hard to upload camera phone photos during the crawl, but to no avail… then yesterday the excess excesses from the crawl hit me and i was unable to type… so my apologies that this post is so late in arriving…
four beers and a funeral: omg, i’m not sure there are words to describe the wonderousness of this event. of course though, i’m going to use lots of them any way!
and post photos too!
let me just begin however, by saying that the vancouver craft beer week crew did a fabulous job on this event in particular, and the whole week was so well run, well planned, and well imagined – i loved it! and bought the shirt to prove it!
first stop, steamworks. amazing ginger beer, which is a limited edition, so hurry in and get yours before its gone.
we were at this stop for an hour, so along with the delectable pub grub they served, we also had a second beer. it was supposed to be ipa, but i think we got lager instead. nothing to write home about either way… did i mention how fabulous the ginger beer was?? full report in another post…
then the wonderful carnival band lead us on our merry way through the city to dix bbq brewpub. best funeral procession i’ve ever been a part of.
next stop, dix. the ipa was fabulous and perfectly paired with veggie curry. will be sad to see this establishment close…
next stop, yaletown brew pub. the thin crust pizza was delicious – i had the pesto kind. anyone notice the theme so far of veggie food at every stop? i sure did, and appreciated it immensely!
were at the yaletown long enough to have two beers there as well… yay five beers in before dinner! and making new friends!
no, we are not short, not by a long shot. jim the priest is 6’7″ without his heels!
after a lovely aquabus trip, we finished off at the dockside where i enjoyed a pilsner, a cask pale ale and a gastro-bbq before we had to run away at 7:00 to make it to our next event.
still standing seven beers later – thank the organizers for making sure we had so much great food at each stop to mop us up and keep us vertical!
i’ll admit that i didn’t make it to every event this past week, but i would not hesitate to recommend that if you only make it to one vancouver craft beer week event next year that it should be this one! and expect it to sell out quickly. of course i also recommend that you make it to as many events next year as you can – it was a great week. major kudos to the organizers!
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